Day trips to Kerala’s tourist spots are a popular option
among local vacationers.

Several resorts cater to this group by offering
day-out packages. Overall, it is a win-win situation for both the travelers and
the resort owners: for the vacataioners, it is a very economical way to enjoy a
full-day of activities at a resort while for the resorts, it offers a way to
optimize capacity utilization. The usual setup consists of outdoor activities (trekking,
boating, use of swimming pool, etc.) with food included (welcome drink, buffet
lunch, and snacks) for a full-day’s (9AM to 4PM usually) entertainment at well
under Rs 1,000pp.

Several KTDC resorts have day-out packages and Water Scapes
in Kumarakom offers one of the best both in terms of the type of activities and
food. We purchased ‘Waterscapes Calling’ coupons through Entedeal at Rs 629pp (rate is slightly
higher if you call directly). The listed package inclusions were:

What they provided was very close to the above: room for changing is not provided although there is a store area in
front of the swimming pool which is open - also, restrooms and wash-area are
also always open by the side of their main restaurant.

KTDC Water Scapes is blessed with an outstanding location -
inside the bird sanctuary with vembanad lake frontage.

Although it is starting
to show its age, the property is excellent: nice reception area, wonderful
restaurant on the water (built on stilts just like the villa rooms), ayurvedic
facility, infinity pool, a newer boat landing facility, and beautifully
maintained acreage with an organic farm along with a mini-zoo. The main
entrance to the facility is shared with the bird sanctuary entrance. Once your
enter, bird sanctuary visitors have an interpretation center at the V and
tickets can be purchased there. To the right is the lane that leads to the
gated entrance to the KTDC Water Scapes property. For hotel guests, adjacent to
that entry gate is a private pathway to the bird sanctuary.

The reception is well equipped to handle day-pack guests. They
clearly explained the suggested itinerary for our day. Below are the details of
how it went:

Bird Sanctuary: Welcome Drink followed by entry into the bird
sanctuary. The bird sanctuary visit took around two hours (4KM walk
overall). Although, the best time to go is early morning (6AM open), the
second view tower near the end of the walk is a great location to see
thousands of birds, independent of your time of visit.

One-hour boat ride: There is a small caveat with this: they do
this as part of the package only if there are ten or more signups. Otherwise,
for a private boat-trip, there is a Rs 650 fee. As we were the first group
for the day, we booked a boat-ride on our own and by the time it was time
to report, they had other day-pack visitors and so they waived the fee for
everyone. As it is very popular, it is quite likely for this to happen.It
is a motor boat and the route is a loop that starts in the Meenachal
river, enters the vembanad lake for a short duration (paathiramanal island
can be seen when you are in that portion of the ride), and then reenters
the river and back to the starting point. The glimpse of rural life that
one gets to see was the highlight.

Lunch:

For the day-pack customers, what they have is a set
menu that includes soup, salad, rice/chappati, chicken curry, pearly-spot
preparation, five veg dishes, and fruit-salad/ice-cream. While this setup
avoids the inevitable chaos in a buffet, it is still not ideal - a lot of
food goes to waste at every table.

Fishing: as the resort is adjacent to the Vembanad Lake and
there is a boat-landing area built-up, there are several spots around
there to try your luck. They provide a basic line-and-hook along with bait
(atta batter with butter and turmeric powder - apparently the latter two
ingredients help attract the fish).

What is given is too basic to catch
anything big, but pearl-spot babies and other small fishes are a plenty
and it is quite easy to catch those.

Swimming Pool: They do provide towels and there is a store
room area that can double-up as a changing room. The infinity pool, one of
the first of its kind setup in Kerala in the 80s is quite large although
not very clean (dead leaves and such).

Evening Snack: The restaurant offers a light snack and
tea/coffee after 3:30PM or so.

Overall, we rate this an excellent option for local visitors considering a
day-out package.

Muthanga Wild Life Sanctuary & Chembra Peak epitomizes
what is on offer in Wayanad.

The one downside with either attractions is that
they are not very accessible. With the Sanctuary, the main feature is a
Jeep-Safari, but that is restricted to the first 40 Jeeps (starts at 7AM) in
the morning and 20 more (starts at 3PM) in the afternoon. With Chembra Peak,
the main issue is that the last 10KM to reach the place is not maintained at
all and so it is best to not attempt the drive with cars (four-wheel drives and
SUVs are OK).

Muthanga Wild Life Sanctuary is around 16KM from Sultan
Battery on the Mysore Highway (212). For some reason, Google maps show
Thirunelli/Tholpetty Wild Life Sanctuary when searching for Muthanga Wild Life
Sanctuary.

That is a different one located ~65KM from Sultan Battery, off the
route to Coorg - that Sanctuary also has a similar Safari and is a good
alternative if you plan to visit the famous Thirunelly Temple.

The ticketing process at Muthanga Wild Life Sanctuary is
confusing. Tickets are
Rs 115 pp (Rs 40 for Camera). we were the first at the gate. The Safari is
around 10KM and it is through a dirt road inside the forest - the ride is bumpy
made worse by your sitting position - you are sitting side-on and have to
turnaround in the seat to look. We got
in right after the first Jeep (the first one carried Forest Department special
guests) and were lucky enough to see many animals in their natural setting - elephants,
bison, red mongoose, deers, feeding vultures, etc - also, a male peacock
perched on a very tall tree was a stunning sight. We were dropped back at the
hotel by 9AM, in-time for breakfast - overall, a very smooth affair. Basically, one has to first get tickets at the Forest Department ticket-counter
at the left side of the Safari entry gate and then arrange a Jeep with private
parties (unionized) that line the road. The Safari starts at 7AM and since
there is a limit of 40-Jeeps for the morning Safari, the earlier you get to the
ticket counter, the better. A Jeep can hold four people comfortably and a
maximum of six people - excluding the driver and a forest guide that travels
with you on every Jeep. The Safari Jeep charges are fairly uniform at Rs 1100.
The trick is to try and be the first few Jeeps to get in, once the gates open
at 7AM - chances of seeing animals go down dramatically after the first few
Jeeps.

We opted for a Jeep that the hotel arranged. The guy came to the hotel
with the Jeep at around 5AM thus ensuring that we were the first in line at the
ticket counter. Once we got the tickets, the guy ensured

For Chembra peak, we asked the services of the same
guy who took us to Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. He offered to take us there and
back for Rs 1800 and we went with it. Basically, it is a day-long program and
there are no restaurants and such in the area - so, a very late lunch is a
given.

To get there, the turn-off is from Meppadi (about 27KM from Sultan
Battery via Kolagappara-Vaduvanchal Road and Manjappara-Karapuzha Road). From
the turn-off to the Left, it is a few kilometers to the Forest Office on the
Left. They collect 750/group for the trek and give a guide (he gets 250
apparently). The trekking site is around 7KM from the Forest Office. The last
~5KM of that road is very bad - they don’t restrict anybody but we saw several
vehicles turning around.

There is a forest department office and a watch-tower
at the Start location. It took us around two hours to the heart-shaped lake and
back (2.5KM one-way) - the lake area is very pretty and there is a nice view
point a little further - both the lake (no swimming and the water is not
drinkable) and the viewpoint are good places to hang-out although there are no
services at either point - carry plenty of liquids and snacks (as with most
tourist spots in Wayanad, it is an eco-friendly zone and all bags are checked
for plastics - each one requires a Rs 20 deposit which you get back when you
show them after the trek).

The original trek was another 7KM that crosses 3
other peaks (currently closed) - apparently someone used a cellphone up there
and got burned by lightning, thus resulting in the indefinite closure.

They say
it might reopen when Neelakurunji blossoms in 2018. On the way back, a 1KM
diversion gets you to Phantom Rock. Related Posts:

Note:
Icahn's 13F filing is a consolidated report and so should not be viewed
as a single portfolio. Specifically, Icahn Enterprises holds several of
the businesses and the entities in turn hold Icahn Enterprises. For an
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